


Snowball Effect

by Nualie



Category: Shaman King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Birthday, Gen, Really just kind of fluffy friend stuff, anna is scary tho, friendship?, it's cute and doesn't murder you inside i swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 03:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14661933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nualie/pseuds/Nualie
Summary: Written for Yoh and Hao's birthday.Set after Anna meets up with Yoh, but before the Shaman Fight starts. Manta's looking for Yoh. He finds some unexpected... things.





	Snowball Effect

**Author's Note:**

> I am SO excited for some more Shaman king soon tbh
> 
> In the meantime, enjoy!

A normal day. Manta wanted to believe this was a completely normal day. Unfortunately, this wasn't really the case.

 

He hadn't seen Yoh yet that day, because he hadn't gone to school. It was kind of worrying, because Yoh, despite being lazy, didn't miss school all that much. Anna made sure of that, even though he still fell asleep in class a lot.

 

That said, she hadn't gone to class either. Was it a shaman thing? It was probably a shaman thing. Manta sighed. He wished he had been told, at least. Now he was worrying, and knowing Yoh, it was probably useless to worry... 

 

He suddenly stopped walking. He hadn't realised it, but he'd been taking the path of the cemetery. He hadn't actually meant to, but... that was where he met Yoh. His friend still hung around there sometimes. Maybe he'd be there. 

 

Manta rose to the tip of his toes, which wasn't much taller than his usual, and squinted. The night hadn't fallen yet, because it was early May, and the days were very long, but the twilight laced shapes and blurry shadows in such a way that he couldn't clearly recognise the silhouette balancing their legs on the edge of Funbari Hill. 

 

Manta creeped closer, trying to be silent, because if this wasn't Yoh, he might get into trouble. It had kind of happened before, after all. The closer he got, though, the more certain he was that this person relaxing in the cherry tree's shadow was Yoh, and he started to relax. That height, that laid-back stance, and he could distinguish a profile now- it was Yoh. He was wearing clothes Manta had never seen before, though. 

 

"Hey! Yoh!" Manta yelled, startling the boy who was perched on the edge of the cliff. 

 

Yoh's eyes whipped to Manta as he tried to regain his balance. "Manta!" A bright smile illuminated his face, and Manta's worry was blown away like leaves on the wind. His friend was just fine, though he was hanging onto the cliff for his life-

 

Then Yoh fell and Manta screamed, rushing to his side. 

 

By the time Manta's short legs caught up to Yoh, though, his friend was laughing. 

 

"How can you be laughing after you fell from that height?!" Manta was too agitated, and when his brain caught up to his words, he sobered up.

 

Right. This was Yoh. Of course he was laughing. 

 

Manta looked upwards. The ledge was quite high up, this was a fall of about seven meters- if this was a regular human falling, they might get seriously hurt, but this was Yoh. 

 

Yoh, who endured Anna's harsh training every day. Of course he was fine; this was nothing compared to what she made him do. 

 

"Sorry, Manta."

 

"Uh?" Manta focused back on Yoh, who was sitting with his legs crossed, now. He readjusted his earphones, which hadn't broken, thankfully. "No, I'm sorry! I made you fall!" 

 

Yoh shook his head. "You're here because you were worried about me, right? Sorry I worried you. I didn't intend to miss school yesterday, but there were, uh." He scratched his cheek. "Unexpected complications?"

 

Manta's eyes widened. "C-Complications? Is everything alright?" Was this why Anna hadn't gone to school either? Did her harsh training go too far and they accidentally burnt down their house? No... maybe somebody in the family was sick?

 

Yoh seemed strangely stern suddenly. Like a shadow passed over him. Manta gulped. "What happened, Yoh?"

 

"Well, today's my fourteenth birthday."

 

The wind blew into the tree above, sending a shiver through the leaves, and a shudder through Manta. The short boy's mouth was hanging open, and the blood drained from his face. 

 

"Manta? Are you okay? You look like you've seen a gho... Wait." And Yoh went into a carefree laugh, not understanding what had Manta so shocked. 

 

"You... never told me today was your birthday."

 

Yoh stopped laughing. "Oh. I guess not."

 

Manta's expression must have told away what he was feeling, because he saw guilt pass onto Yoh's face. "S-Sorry? I didn't have anyone but family to celebrate it with before, so I completely forgot..."

 

Oh.

 

Manta kicked a pebble. "No, I should've asked. It's my fault." He sighed. "I don't have a present for you, I'm sorry... I'll find you something, I promise!" 

 

Yoh laughed again, but it wasn't as carefree as usual. It lasted a very short moment, but Yoh was smiling wider, with his eyes, and it made Manta's heart beat a little harder, because he never thought he could be good enough to make someone laugh like that.

 

"Thanks, Manta. Even just that thought makes me really happy. Best birthday ever!" 

 

"Yoh, you're embarrassing me." Manta looked away. "I... I'll do my best to find a gift for you... unless you want us to go buy it together tomorrow?" 

 

"Sure, why not." Yoh stood up and stretched. "I'll be looking forward to it."

 

He was leaving. The night was definitely falling now, and Yoh was like a shadow among newborn stars, darkness that had yet to shine. Yet, that silhouette always had an aura of peace to it.

 

Manta hurried after him. "Where are you going?" 

 

Yoh tilted his head towards the cliff. "Back up. The view's best there. There are too many pebbles down here, grass is much more comfortable." 

 

...of course. This was Yoh.

 

"Wait, it's getting late. Won't Anna lecture you?"

 

"Nah. She's busy. She said I couldn't go home until she was done, and knowing her, it' going to be a  while longer." He shuddered while saying that, and Manta wondered if he wanted to know what Anna was up to. "Besides, they'll probably catch up to us here instead."

 

Manta nodded. Yoh helped him up on the last stretch of hill, because it was a little abrupt for his short legs, and they sat down in the grass side by side. Farther from the edge than Yoh had been before.

 

"What about you, Manta? Don't you have to go home?"

 

"...it's your birthday. I'd rather spend time with you."

 

"Aww, thanks. I'm touched."

 

Manta sighed, unable to restrain the smile that floated onto his lips. They stayed in silence for a while, watching the sky darken fast.

 

"So, did I miss anything at school?"  

 

"No, it was the same as usual, really... What about you? Were you skipping here the whole day, or did you have something scheduled?"

 

Yoh shook his head. "No. I was planning to go to class this morning, otherwise I would've told you."

 

Uh. So something unexpected happened. "What happened, then? Was it Anna?"

 

"No." Yoh paled suddenly. "She was livid. I wasn't the target, but it was painful just looking at it."

 

Manta didn't understand, but he was quite happy he hadn't been the target of Anna's wrath. "Err, did your family wish you a happy birthday?"

 

Yoh shrugged. "You could say that. Most of them just sent money for me to buy a present, so I bought a few of Bob's CDs. My mother sent me this hoodie, too." He pulled on it, but he was pensive. 

 

"Oh... So they didn't visit?"

 

"Well, some of my family did. That's why Anna was so furious." He sighed. "They already don't get along all that well, but on top of that, he was casually eating breakfast from our fridge when we walked in the kitchen this morning."

 

"Who was it?"

 

Yoh sighed, looking into the cityscape's lights. They were quite bright, much brighter than the stars- eclipsed them, even. "My father."

 

"Yoh's... father?" Manta never met Yoh's father. Actually, they never did talk about family, did they.

 

"He means well, but he's not around a lot. Anna kicked him out, screaming that she doesn't want someone who doesn't pay his own kid's meals to eat our tight-budget food."

 

Manta felt very cold wind suddenly blow because of this wacky family. 

 

"After that I shopped for CDs and listened to music, then I ate lunch," Yoh enumerated the events of his day on his fingers, "then I met up with my brother and Anna kicked him."

 

The cold wind became a blizzard that froze Manta's mind momentarily.

 

"Yoh, you have a brother?!"

 

Yoh smiled with all his teeth. "Yup!"

 

Manta felt dizzy from this revelation. All he could imagine was a taller version of Yoh, maybe shorter haired? What if he was even more laid back, if that was possible. After all, without an Anna, how lazy would that person be? Wait, he didn't even know that sibling's age.

 

"Is he older or younger than you?"

 

Yoh huffed. "We're twins, so we're the same age. There's no point in a younger or older."

 

"You keep saying that. I'm clearly older, Yoh."

 

"Urgh!" Yoh twisted his torso around to look over his shoulder. Manta, though, whipped around to stare at the newcomer. 

 

He looked exactly like Yoh. That was immediately obvious to Manta. His first thought was, 'Yoh'. But then that moment passed, and he could catalogue the differences- Yoh's brother had much longer hair, which was tied into a ponytail, and wore a button up shirt and casual pants. He looked like a classier Yoh, if nothing else. He had a confidant demeanour, too, not an unfriendly one, but definitely less approachable.

 

"Good evening, Manta." Yoh's twin smiled different, too, not more restrained necessarily, but a bit more... deliberately. "I'm happy to meet such a good friend of my brother's. You're very small."

 

What.

 

"I'm not sure that sounds like a compliment, nii-chan. And you didn't even introduce yourself."

 

"What? He doesn't even know my name?" The brother gave a clearly fake offended gasp. "My beloved brother's never even talked about me to his friend? I am _so_ disappointed."

 

He sighed, though the aura he gave off never changed. 

 

"My name is Hao Asakura, and soon," his smile widened, "I will be the Shaman King ."

 

As it turned out, Yoh was slightly taller than his twin, though.

 

**Author's Note:**

> To be clear, this is an AU where Hao popped into Yoh's life when they were kids. They don't live together and never have but he pops up, like during holidays, or if he's in the area. 
> 
> When Yoh learned that Hao killed people, he said "I'm not... angry. Not at you. I'm disappointed."  
> and that killed Hao a little inside  
> so he's extra careful that he doesn't find out, now. 
> 
> Spent a bit of time fleshing it out a few days ago, but well, that's enough chit chat from me. 
> 
> Until next time!


End file.
